If USC had pulled off that win, it might have raised the bar for the program.

Speaking of which, the bar was actually already set, or at least the setting, when USC coach Kevin O’Neill was suspended by the school for an altercation he was involved in Thursday night in a hotel lobby.

The Trojans tried valiantly to put that aside Friday in the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament semifinals at Staples Center. But after being turned aside, 67-62, by conference regular-season champion Arizona, the Trojans are right back where they left off after their first-round win over California.

In the lobby. Or more precisely, having to lobby for an NCAA Tournament bid.

The strange trip of events, with a reported dust-up between O’Neill, his wife Roberta and Arizona booster Paul Weitman as the backdrop, began to play out publicly only hours before USC was to take on No. 16 Arizona.

Trojans assistant coach Bob Cantu gathered the players at their hotel across the street from the arena and informed them he would be the coach for the rest of the Pac-10 Tournament.

“I was a little shocked,” forward Alex Stepheson said. “I didn’t expect it, but there was nothing I could do. I just went in there said, `OK,’ and just tried to play.”

Cantu, a 10-year assistant at USC under three head coaches, watched his team play as hard as it had all season, but too much Derrick Williams, too much Arizona depth and 3-point shooting and perhaps simply too much drama put the Trojans (19-14) on the precipice for an NCAA invite.

“It’s unfortunate he wasn’t able to coach this game, but I’m really proud of the effort our guys gave,” said Cantu, who added he found out he would be coaching at about 3p.m. “I think anybody out there that was watching this game tonight can see that we can compete with just about any team in the country.”

They could also see a team had to adjust on the fly for its most important game of the season, with a potential second victory over Arizona this season perhaps a tipping point in their postseason fortunes.

“It’s unfortunate,” guard Jio Fontan said. “Obviously, we wanted our coach to be there, we wanted him to enjoy this experience, to be there and help lead us to a victory, but we understand things happen.

“At the end of the day he’s our coach but he’s human, he’s a man and made a mistake. Whatever the case is, I don’t know too much about it, we all support him, I’m behind him. Whether he was right or wrong, I’m behind him. Things happened, we moved on.”

Forward Marcus Simmons, who scored a career-high 20 points and made three 3-pointers – he entered the game having made eight of 29 attempts all season – immediately tried to pull his team together when the players were informed of the events.

“We knew it was going to be tough,” Simmons said. “But me being a senior, I had to talk to the players and we knew we had to go out there and compete and we knew the game plan So we just had to move forward and go out and compete tonight like we did.”

Williams scored 20 points for Arizona (27-6) and played a key role on double-teams of USC forward Nikola Vucevic, who had 16 points and 12 rebounds but never got the ball enough in a position to do his usual damage.

Forward Jess Perry added 11 points for the Wildcats and guard Jordin Mayes, the freshman from Westchester High, hit two 3-pointers and drove for a basket in a span of 1:39 as the Arizona turned a six-point lead to a 50-38 advantage midway through the second half.

USC fought back to within 58-55, but Jamelle Horne hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 2:29 left. Fontan pulled USC within four on a layup, but Williams answered with a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Solomon Hill, then made four free throws in the final 20 seconds.

In the end, was O’Neill’s absence a factor? It was a day of statements being issued, from USC athletic director Pat Haden in announcing the suspension, to O’Neill’s contrite words, to Pac-10 Commissioner Larry Scott chiming in.

“It was different,” Vucevic said. “When KO’s there, he yells a lot, and we didn’t hear a lot of yelling today. I have to say that our coaching staff did a great job preparing us.”

While Arizona plays in today’s Pac-10 final, USC must hope for a committee meeting in a hotel to decide its postseason fate. Have the Trojans made enough noise, enoughof a statement, with or without O’Neill?